Jim, how do you know they use the "world's worst coffees" in the Nespresso capsules?

Nescafe is the major buyer of Vietnamese Robusta and Brazilian Rio; and their agronomists developed a lot of the installations (it's hard to regard them as farms) where these coffees are grown. The whole mindset of Nestle and the other major food companies is that what the growers produce is a cheap raw material unfit for human consumption, and that real food is created by "value added processing" in factories.

This foundational idea of modern food provision strikes me as aesthetically and morally repellent, leading to the degradation of farming at one end, endless plastic packaging in landfills at the other, and people becoming obese and unhealthy in the middle. I have no objection to foods being prepped using hi-tech production lines; but to my mind, that preparation should be closer to what happens in a good kitchen rather than a dog food plant.

It was Nespresso that got me interested in making real espresso. I think the comments by CALB expresses exactly what I experience with Nespresso. It took 2-3 pods to have enough coffee in a cappuccino to taste it properly and at 75 cents a pod times 3 per day for two people it is a wasteful luxury for the sake of convenience. This is the equivalent to the cost of a pound of coffee per day. Didn't make sense.

calb wrote:For me Nespresso shots lack punch and strength. Not necessarily bad tasting but muted taste compared to good real espresso and lacking in weight and density compared to any real espresso. Similar to enhancing crema devices but less flexible (you can't change grind, dose or tamp). Somehow remind me of light / artificial food.
They are more and more popular though and I believe the sales of regular espresso machines is already suffering. I even saw them in some bars and restaurants. I don't like it.

another_jim wrote:Nescafe is the major buyer of Vietnamese Robusta and Brazilian Rio; and their agronomists developed a lot of the installations (it's hard to regard them as farms) where these coffees are grown. The whole mindset of Nestle and the other major food companies is that what the growers produce is a cheap raw material unfit for human consumption, and that real food is created by "value added processing" in factories.

This foundational idea of modern food provision strikes me as aesthetically and morally repellent, leading to the degradation of farming at one end, endless plastic packaging in landfills at the other, and people becoming obese and unhealthy in the middle. I have no objection to foods being prepped using hi-tech production lines; but to my mind, that preparation should be closer to what happens in a good kitchen rather than a dog food plant.

Yes Jim, this is all well-said, although I don't know any of the facts re: Nescafe in particular. For some reason Kraft foods comes to mind.

i use a magimix 100 - great results from the nespresso system so far. I got a grand cru selection box for my wife.